8 months ago
23
Former president face to face with estranged ex-‘fixer’ in Judge Merchan’s Manhattan courtroom in what promises to be another explosive week of testimony
Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox
Get our free Inside Washington email
Donald Trump’s New York hush money trial has resumed at Manhattan Criminal Court, with the defendant coming face to face with his estranged former “fixer” Michael Cohen in Judge Juan Merchan’s courtroom.
Cohen is the attorney who made the $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels at the heart of the case in the hope of buying her silence about a sexual encounter she claims she had with Mr Trump in a Lake Tahoe hotel room in July 2006.
When the story emerged shortly before the 2016 election, Cohen testified Mr Trump cared more about the impact on his presidential campaign than his marriage to Melania Trump.
The former president denies the affair and the 34 felony counts brought against him by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, who accuses him of falsifying business records to hide the payout.
Ms Daniels herself took to the witness stand last week to deliver some highly explicit and embarrassing evidence against Mr Trump and more than held her own in response to hostile cross-examination from the defence, which worked hard to discredit her.
Alex Woodward and Kelly Rissman are covering the trial for The Independent from Manhattan Criminal Court.
Weisselberg told him to “take it easy, you know that Mr Trump loves you.”
“We’re going to do right by you. … Enjoy your vacation. Relax. We’re going to make this right.”
“Even for myself I was unusually angry,” he said, generating the first real laughs of the day in the overflow room.
He complained to Pecker: “‘Can you believe this? … This is the best that I get?’ … It wasn’t so much about the number as it was about the disrespect that came with it. … I was personally insulted.”
Cohen also brought it up to Davidson but was less intense, considering he didn’t know him as well.
Alex Woodward13 May 2024 21:00
Cohen was “beyond angry” when he got his Christmas bonus in 2016. It was cut by two-thirds. And Trump hadn’t paid him back for Daniels.
“I was truly insulted … Made no sense, after all I had gone through … It was insulting that the gratitude paid back to me was to cut my bonus by two-thirds.”
He was “pissed off” and there was some “colorful language” and used “quite a few expletives” when he talked to Weisselberg.
“I didn’t expect more, but I certainly didn’t expect less.”
Alex Woodward13 May 2024 20:57
Were you offered a role as assistant general counsel?
“Yes … it was something that Reince Priebus had offered to me”
Did you want it?
“No ma’am.”
Ever offered chief of staff?
“No ma’am.”
Was that disappointing?
“Yes … I didn’t want the role. I didn’t believe the role was right for me or that I was confident to be chief of staff. I just wanted to be included … after all of this going through. I had other ideas for myself that I wanted. It was more about my ego than anything.”
Instead, he offered up his own title: personal attorney to the president. It would allow him to “continue to protect him to do the things that he needed with these other matters.”
He also floated another idea: “consultant.”
That would allow him to stay at home in New York with his family, he said.
Alex Woodward13 May 2024 20:47
Court resumes
Just before the break, Judge Juan Merchan asked how much time prosecutors had left with Cohen, but we couldn’t hear an answer on the mic. According to reporters in the room, ADA Susan Hoffinger said they’ll expect to continue direct examination of Cohen tomorrow.
As things start up again for the final part of the afternoon, we’re looking at texts between Hope Hicks and Cohen on November 5 that we saw during her testimony.
Alex Woodward13 May 2024 20:43
Oliver O'Connell13 May 2024 20:22
November 4 text from Keith Schiller at 7.26pm, asking if he can take a call. Cohen replied, “of course.”
Trump called Cohen on Keith Schiller’s phone. Cohen said they addressed that “this was a real serious problem, especially because it was so close to the election. I told him exactly who I had spoken to.
Trump was angry and upset, “because there was a negative story that could once again impact the campaign as a result of women”.
Court break for the afternoon recess.
Alex Woodward13 May 2024 20:20
Cohen called Trump on Oct 28 and spoke for more than 5 minutes, telling him “that this matter was completely locked down and under control”.
And then the Wall Street Journal story about Karen McDougal came out...
When he found out the WSJ was working on a story, he contacted Keith Davidson, Hope Hicks and David Pecker, “so we can all coalesce around this issue and again quell the effects of an article like this”.
A whole bunch of calls on November 4 and 5, trying to figure out how to “change the narrative” and respond.
Hicks emailed Cohen with some spin options for the campaign. Cohen replied with this:
Instead... say:
These accusations are completely untrue and just the latest despicable attempt by the liberal media and the Clinton machine to distract the public from the FBI’s ongoing criminal investigation into secretary Clinton and her closest associates.
On November 4, a series of calls between Cohen and Davidson, hoping to make sure that Daniels wouldn’t “go rogue” while also assuring that McDougal was under control.
He was “very” angry with him.
Alex Woodward13 May 2024 20:14
The purpose of the wire transfer to Davidson’s account intended for Stormy Daniels, according to the document: “Retainer”
That’s false. It was “in order to pay Stormy Daniels, executive the nondisclosure agreement” and “obtain her life rights,” Cohen says.
Cohen emailed Davidson at 6.47am on October 27 to confirm receipt.
Alex Woodward13 May 2024 20:00
We see a whole bunch of calls on Oct 25 from Cohen to Pecker and Pecker to Cohen. Why so many? Cohen laughs.
“Signal is terrible with keeping phone calls.” They had to keep trying after calls were constantly dropped.
On October 26, Cohen called Trump, twice.
He says he would not have made the deal without him, and that at some point, he “wanted the money back”.
Alex Woodward13 May 2024 19:49
Oct 23, Weisselberg left a voicemail for Cohen.
Oct 24, Cohen called Keith Schiller to get in touch with Trump to confirm the deal.
Cohen tried to get Pecker to make the payment. What’d he say? “Not a chance.”
He “didn’t get the money back on the $150,000" and refused to try again. It could “cost me my job,” Cohen remembers Pecker saying.
Alex Woodward13 May 2024 19:40
